


Positioning

by luna65



Category: Hannibal (TV), Hannibal (TV) RPF
Genre: M/M, Madancy, S1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-11
Updated: 2015-09-11
Packaged: 2018-04-20 07:19:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4778480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luna65/pseuds/luna65
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Finding opportunities for proximity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Positioning

**Author's Note:**

> A possible explanation of the ladder scene in "Buffet Froid" and a meditation on the notion of collaboration.

Two very weary friends collapsed upon a couch, beers in hand. Mads picked up a remote and pointed it at the stereo on the far wall. Hugh considered that it had never even occurred to him to request a stereo for his apartment. Mads didn't have a television. What he did have was mounds of books and magazines and an audiophile-quality stereo. The opening strains of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" filtered in with an ambient mood of expectation.

"How come you never play _Dark Side of the Moon_?" Hugh asked, kicking off his trainers and placing his feet upon the coffee table with a grateful sigh.

Mads tapped his forehead with a grin. "It plays in my memory palace always. Besides, this is in tribute to Will, the crazy diamond."

Hugh cracked up, then raised his bottle. "Universe, I am not ungrateful -"

"Oh here we go."

"And I have the utmost love and respect for our resident mad genius, **but** -"

" **But** -"

"I hate pick-up shot days with every fibre of my being. A camera three inches from my face all fucking day!"

"Curse yourself for such an expressive face then, demanding to be viewed in excruciating detail."

"Don't they call that victim-shaming or some such?"

A grin, a kiss on his friend's forehead like benediction. They drank.

"Will is not a victim, he is an antenna, he pulls in the broadcasts of dark stars."

"This is going very deep, we should be sharing a spliff."

"And who else do you know who dives so deep?"

Hugh set down his bottle of beer - half-drunk - and lay upon the couch, putting his head in Mads' lap.

"Nobody."

They sat in silence as the music washed over them, Mads snaking his fingers through deep brown snarls and curls, smiling and humming. Hugh closed his eyes with another sigh of relief, also smiling.

 

Whenever they discussed a shooting script, proximity came naturally...they might start out on either side of the couch or leaning up against the bed, and scene-by-scene advance on each other until they were shoulder-to-shoulder, their arms and legs finally twining, Mads looking over Hugh's shoulder, breathing softly into Hugh's ear, speaking low.

On page two, Hugh tapped a line. "Will is balking at Hannibal's concern, he thinks Hannibal is over-protective."

"Hannibal says 'Indulge me,' can we peel back the layers of such a phrase?" Mads asked.

"Someone will. You say that when you think you might be perceived as unreasonable. But Will is in a sort of living death now."

"Not unlike Georgia Madchen."

"His soul is being fought over, and deceived."

"I think we should add something to -" Mads flipped pages, "- here -" pointing to scene 21. 

Hugh smirked. "They're scrapping, a bit."

"There's so much going on in this episode - 'belief determines value,' that's the main thing, but whose beliefs are going to triumph?"

"Hannibal's, of course."

"Does he allow Will a victory in this?" Mads inquired, tapping the page.

"An illusory one. It's funny, I thought the contrast between Will collecting strays and Hannibal collecting the rarefied might not be so different. I think Will would see himself as a stray."

"Because he empathizes -"

"- with _everybody_ , apparently."

They laughed. "Now the audience really knows how much Hannibal values Will, even as his curiosity seems quite cruel."

Hugh flipped to page 35. "Imagination is an interesting accelerant for a fever," he read. "I think Hannibal is really talking about himself."

"And his fever is to share his imagination with Will."

"So what do you want to add to scene 21?"

"A trace of that fever, the intensity which grips them both."

"To touch?"

"To control. Will wants self-control, Hannibal wants total control."

"So what form does that take?"

"Hannibal has an imposing presence. But like a cat he won't move until it's absolutely necessary."

"He's been imposing his intimacy in ever-escalating words and actions. Like in 'Trou-Normand' -"

"Did Hannibal ever raise his voice before that moment?"

"No."

"But he must make a gesture of dominance again, Will is threatening to rebel because he's so disturbed. Hannibal needs to...hmm..."

Hugh, possessed by an impish impulse, draped himself across Mads' lap, eyebrows raised flirtatiously. "An aggressive violation of personal space?"

Mads smirked. "Such as you are doing right now?"

"Hannibal is not _obvious_ , luv."

"But thank the gods you are," Mads declared, tossing the script over his shoulder and taking Hugh into his arms. Their tongues tangled for quite a while.

 

"So Will is pacing, he's freaked out," Hugh explained to their director, "and then we thought Hannibal should get up from where he's sitting, like he's trying to calm him down -"

"So a medium shot?"

"Closing in on them, as Hannibal advances on him," Mads continued. "He backs Will into a corner."

"Literally?" John asked skeptically.

"Not so obvious, but our body language will express the struggle," Hugh said.

"Hmm." John looked at the set of Hannibal's office, ignoring the massed bodies of the crew. "I can give you ten minutes to work it out, okay?"

"Yeah," they said in unison, smiling.

John and Steve herded the rest of the crew off the set, calling for a break, Mads and Hugh walked through the scene with scripts in hand. In their previous exchange they had decided to cut some of the lines when they kept tripping over them.

"Will is really frazzled, he sounds like he's almost hysterical," Hugh said, as he paced.

"Hannibal is calm," Mads murmured. He sat down behind the desk, but then got up again and perched on the edge of it, looking to his left where Hugh paced. "He's trying to steer Will into less turbulent waters."

"So I stop -" Hugh paused, looking around, "- here." He leaned against the library ladder. "Will can't sit still. He confides his own disintegrating psyche."

Mads stood up. "Hannibal seems to be trying to comfort Will, but Will is scared, the intrusion -"

"- startles him, but he has nowhere to go."

"Nowhere else to go," Mads whispered, as they were standing together with mere inches between them.

"Don't get too close," Hugh teased.

"Just close enough," Mads replied with a wink.

 

It took nearly an hour to track the shots, find a way to illustrate the distance closing between them in the scene, as well as to keep them both in frame with the close-ups, to emphasize the inherent dynamic. The library ladder was moved into the shot behind Hugh as he paced, so that Mads would have to walk to him. 

Something about the way Hugh said _lonely_ triggered something in Mads, but they weren't aware of the greater implications till they watched the rough edit.

"Look at your face, Mads," John said, pointing at the screen. "It's just the slightest change but -"

"He's worried," Hugh said.

"He must take the boy in hand," Mads said with a hint of mischief. "There's something paternal about the way he approaches him."

"That full-body sigh, and the shrug, I love it!" Bryan exclaimed. "It's so 'Oh Dad!'"

Hugh didn't remember doing that, it was unconscious and therefore _true_.

"He's so vulnerable in that moment, and Hannibal won't let him hide."

"That was an excellent idea, gentlemen, this is what I live for: those collaborative moments of genius."

"Oh go on!" Hugh exclaimed with a broad Cockney drawl, and everyone laughed.

 

 

"You can't hide from me, you know," Mads said, running his hand through Hugh's hair. They had resumed their favorite slumped juxtaposition on Mads' sofa.

"And that's why I did that," Hugh answered. He took a drag on Mads' cigarette then gave it back. He watched the smoke of his exhale drift towards the ceiling. "My body knows the truth. You approached me with authority, and I managed to just stop myself from giving in."

"Because you would have, if you weren't paying attention."

Hugh smiled. "I always do."

"Who has the power, I wonder?" Mads grinned. "Every time I look at your face, and whatever emotions you are conveying for the scene, I am honestly moved. I am _grateful_ , as you like to say, that I have the privilege to experience it."

"We give each power, and permission, and that's why it works."

"I say we work our way through that leftover curry, and then -"

"And then?"

"And then we further discuss this collaboration. In various ways."

They regarded each other with deep affection, and clinked their bottles of beer in agreement.


End file.
